coronavirus

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 2

March 28, 2020, 7:33pm

Remember that time a Nationals starting pitcher flirted with a no-hitter in the National League Championship Series in St. Louis? No, not the first time it happened. The second time it happened. The very next day. Of all the remarkable things the Nats did during their postseason run last October, the back-to-back no-hit bids by AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez and Max Scherzer certainly deserve to sit high on the list. Making it all the more remarkable: That same duo did the exact same thing in Games 1 and...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1

March 27, 2020, 9:16pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1

Because the wild card game, the National League Division Series and the World Series were so dramatic, with the Nationals fighting off elimination five times along the way, the NL Championship Series kind of gets lost in the shuffle when you think back to the 2019 postseason. We know the Nats swept the Cardinals in four straight. They never even trailed at any point in any of the four games. It was as one-sided a postseason series as you're likely to see. But let's give the NLCS more credit...

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Memories of some media missteps

March 27, 2020, 9:54am

Orioles

Anyone who's stepped inside a major league clubhouse and posed a question during a pregame or postgame media scrum has probably committed an embarrassing gaffe. The odds increase the longer you've worked the beat. Colleagues can sympathize, but it doesn't prevent us from teasing the guilty party. Boxers don't land as many jabs as we do. The shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic is intended to keep people safe. It's also protecting the media from doing something stupid. Many of the...

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Another look at what could be coming in a 2020 MLB season

March 27, 2020, 4:35pm

Orioles

Another look at what could be coming in a 2020 MLB season

The agreement between Major League Baseball owners and players this week ensures that players will get service time in 2020, even if there is not a season. While both sides seem very committed to playing this year and playing the most games possible, they did account for this scenario in their latest talks. Players on the roster all year in 2020, no matter how many games are scheduled, will also get a full year of service time. That makes sense as they would have played a full year, even if...

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Updates on season status and another childhood heartbreak

March 27, 2020, 12:05pm

Orioles

Updates on season status and another childhood heartbreak

The constant speculation over Major League Baseball's return and in what form is doing little besides confusing fans and spreading rumors. Separating truth from fiction is requiring a lot more muscle these days. Implement it into your workouts while gyms are closed. We don't know if or when baseball will be played. We don't know how long spring training 2.0 will last and whether teams would head back to Florida and Arizona. We don't know if the schedule will be packed with doubleheaders. We...

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MASN to rebroadcast every Nationals win from 2019 postseason

March 26, 2020, 12:29pm

Nationals

If you want to re-watch the Nationals' dramatic run to their first World Series title on television, here's your chance. MASN will be broadcasting all 12 of the Nats' postseason victories, plus the championship parade, during the first two weeks of April. It all begins Thursday at 1 p.m., exactly when the Nationals were supposed to raise their banner before facing the Mets in their 2020 home opener. Instead, MASN will be showing the entire National League wild card game, capped by Juan...

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Reports: MLB, union agree to salary, service time, draft changes

March 26, 2020, 7:30pm

Nationals

Reports: MLB, union agree to salary, service time, draft changes

For those wondering about the postseason re-watch articles, we'll get back to that tomorrow, with four straight days of the National League Championship Series. But first, there was some baseball news late last night, with Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreeing to a bunch of new provisions to account for the disrupted 2020 season. Multiple outlets reported that player representatives from all 30 clubs agreed to a deal that will become official today once owners sign off...

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Lack of opening day brings a whole new appreciation for it

March 25, 2020, 9:09pm

Nationals

Lack of opening day brings a whole new appreciation for it

What will you be doing today at 1:10 p.m.? Will you turn on your television, hoping beyond hope to see Trea Turner stepping to the plate to face Jacob deGrom at sold-out Citi Field? Maybe this has all been a bad dream, a two-week-long nightmare that we'll all wake up from just in time to watch the 2020 Major League Baseball season begin as scheduled. Sadly, no. This is all too real. And it's only going to start feeling more real with each passing day as the pandemic numbers skyrocket and the...

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Nationals option two players to Fresno, four more to Harrisburg

March 26, 2020, 11:10am

Nationals

They didn't have to submit an official 26-man roster for opening day this morning, but the Nationals did make a series of transactions, procedural moves that involved the optioning of six players off the major league spring training roster. Right-hander Erick Fedde and catcher Tres Barrera were both optioned to Triple-A Fresno, the club announced. Four more players were optioned to Double-A Harrisburg: right-handers James Bourque and Kyle Finnegan, plus infielder AdriÃ¡n Sanchez and...

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Some things that could be part of a reduced baseball schedule

March 25, 2020, 3:40pm

Orioles

Some things that could be part of a reduced baseball schedule

Who would have ever thought we'd have an "opening day at home." But today, on the day that the Major League Baseball season was set to open, here we are. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic we are getting ready to watch previous great games. And not watch, attend or report on new ones. Major League Baseball yesterday made an announcement with a spoiler alert: Every team wins on this opening day. MLB will be showing a rebroadcast of one game for each team. For the Orioles it's the...

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Reflecting on past spring trainings with the Orioles

March 24, 2020, 11:07am

Orioles

My scheduled return home yesterday from Sarasota would have been the ideal time to reflect on six weeks of spring training. Something that I've been doing in its abbreviated form since my actual return on March 14. There hasn't been one like it during my tenure on the Orioles beat, which officially began in 1997 after I assisted in coverage of 2,130 and 2,131 in 1995 - no other explanation needed - and the 1996 playoffs. Including Jeffrey Maier's interference of a Derek Jeter fly ball at...

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Nationals trivia quiz: Opening day

March 24, 2020, 6:56pm

Nationals

The re-watch of the 2019 postseason has been a blast - thank you to everyone who has reached out to say how much they've enjoyed it - but it's also pretty time consuming. I mean, you really want me to watch an entire baseball game and then write a full article about it 17 times? What do you think I am, a baseball beat writer? (Wait, don't answer that question.) Rest assured, the postseason re-watch will continue later this week with the National League Championship Series. Then after another...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 4

March 22, 2020, 9:06pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 4

The vibe inside Nationals Park early on during Game 4 of last fall's National League Division Series did not suggest the assembled masses were optimistic there would be a Game 5. An odd 6:40 p.m. first pitch on a Monday night with rain in the forecast and the home team facing elimination led to the first non-sellout in the ballpark's postseason history. Game 3 the previous night was witnessed by a crowd of 43,423. Game 4 was played before a gathering of only 36,847, with large swaths of empty...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 5

March 23, 2020, 10:13pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 5

As the final countdown to first pitch proceeded Oct. 9, two thoughts came to mind: * This felt awfully familiar for the Nationals, yet another winner-take-all Game 5 of the National League Division Series. * This felt strikingly different from those previous Game 5 fiascos, because this time the Nats were on the road and underdogs to their opponents. In the end, of course, the 2019 NLDS was completely different from the other ones because the Nationals actually emerged victorious for the first...

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Orioles should be playing last exhibition game today

March 23, 2020, 1:07pm

Orioles

I should have been flying home this morning from spring training. Should have been waking up at the Marriott inside the Tampa International Airport - a veteran move to drop off the rental car and switch hotels the night prior to departure - and stumbling to my gate after six weeks in Sarasota with only a single day off. The Orioles would be playing the Mets later today at the Naval Academy in one last exhibition game - a substitute for the usual workout day. Major League Baseball requires teams...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 3

March 21, 2020, 9:43pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 3

I'll admit I didn't remember much about Game 3 of the National League Division Series. I remembered it was a blowout. I remembered AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez started and then Patrick Corbin had a disastrous night in relief. I remembered it was the last time the Nationals wore anything other than their navy blue alternate jerseys. (They wore white.) But that's about all I remembered before re-watching the game yesterday. So imagine my surprise when I realized this actually was a compelling...

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Taking an Orioles quiz during the shutdown

March 21, 2020, 3:12pm

Orioles

With no baseball to be played or watched on a Sunday, what better substitute than a pop quiz on the Orioles? Oh, please, no need to thank me. This is the coronavirus edition. Extra credit awarded for expanding on "none of the above" by making a prediction. The Orioles' fifth starter will be: A. Tommy Milone B. Kohl Stewart C. A player who wasn't in camp D. None of the above The backup catcher will be: A. Chance Sisco B. Austin Wynns C. Bryan Holaday D. None of the above The right fielder on...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 2

March 20, 2020, 9:19pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 2

Confession time: My favorite game of the 2019 postseason wasn't the wild card game. It wasn't Game 5 of the National League Division Series. It wasn't the pennant clincher over the Cardinals. And it wasn't Game 6 or 7 of the World Series in Houston. It was Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Seriously. This was an absolutely fantastic ballgame, overstuffed with star power, clutch performances, bold managerial decisions, a surprise relief appearance from a three-time Cy Young Award winner...

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The ramp-up back to baseball could be quick

March 20, 2020, 1:12pm

Orioles

The ramp-up back to baseball could be quick

If and when we get back to a point where baseball players can take the field, how long will it take before regular season games can be played? That's a good question that can only be answered when we know the start date. But a shortened second spring training of at least two weeks seems likely. Would two weeks be enough? Probably not, but the clock will be ticking fast once the game returns and I would not expect Major League Baseball officials to tell us they need four weeks to get ready. The...

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Hyde on Stewart and impact of shutdown on development

March 20, 2020, 1:53pm

Orioles

Hyde on Stewart and impact of shutdown on development

The Orioles were supposed to be playing split-squad games tonight against the Twins and Red Sox. The latter would have provided the final division opponent before opening day and the last road trip in the Grapefruit League. I never made it to Fort Myers this spring and that's got to be a first for me. And I've been covering spring training since 1997 in Fort Lauderdale. I missed the Feb. 25 trip to the Red Sox complex because the Orioles also had a home game against the Rays. I was walking to...